There are only a few paintings that are so well known, they’re part of popular culture. Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Mona Lisa” is one, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, another.
And, of course, there’s “American Gothic” by Grant Wood. In 1930, Wood noticed a simple house built in Carpenter Gothic style in his home state of Iowa and decided to use it as the backdrop of a Midwestern American scene with “the kind of people I fancied should live in that house”: an elderly farmer and his daughter.
The model for the farmer was his Cedar Rapids dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, and for the daughter, Wood’s sister Nan. All three elements — the farmer, the daughter and the house — were painted separately and no one posed in front of the house.
Wood entered the painting in an Art Institute of Chicago competition and the judges gave it a bronze medal and $300. The Institute also bought the painting and it remains in their collection today (not a bad investment).
At first, some local Iowans thought the painting was disrespectful and made fun of their way of life. This could not have been further from Wood’s intentions, as he had great reverence for the local people and gave up a European painter’s life to locate in Iowa as a working artist.
Eventually the painting was seen with affection by both Iowans and critics, and hundreds of parodies have resulted (that’s how you know you’ve really made it). The house is now owned by the state of Iowa and sits in an unassuming, quiet neighborhood in the small town of Eldon.
They’ve put up a very nice Grant Wood museum next to it. The interior of the house can be toured on the second Saturday of the month, from April through October.
Best of all, they have a whole closet full of bib overalls, blazers, colonial print aprons, white-collared dresses and a pitchfork or two so you can get your picture taken, free of charge mind you, in front of the house. Goth bless America.
The American Gothic House is at 300 American Gothic Street in Eldon, Iowa, 103 miles southeast of Des Moines.
Gunnar Johnson, a Sun Sentinel designer, is the author of Eccentric Roadside, www.eccentricroadside.blogspot.com, a travel blog featuring unusual roadside sights.
